


Spy Games

by agentx13 (rebelle_elle)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Christmas fic, Fluff, Gen, sharon carter appreciation month
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-27
Updated: 2015-03-27
Packaged: 2018-03-19 20:42:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3623619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebelle_elle/pseuds/agentx13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Howard insists that Peggy take some time to see her family at Christmas. Despite not being particularly close to her family, she enjoys herself more than she thought she could.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spy Games

“We were beginning to think you wouldn’t make it,” Harrison said, closing the door behind Peggy.

She stomped the snow from her shoes. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Peggy repied, dry humor deep in her voice. She nearly had missed it for the world. Being co-director of SHIELD meant missing a great many things for the sake of the world. Fortunately, she had an excellent co-director who had opted to take over while she spent time with her family. As Howard had put it, “I’ve got a family to go home to whenever I choose. You’ve got a family you hardly ever get to see.”

She was glad for the opportunity to see her younger brother, and she’d already resolved to make it up to Howard somehow. When Peggy had been born, her parents had been young and careless. Perhaps too young, and certainly too careless. She sometimes wondered if that was part of why she had always felt such a strong sense of responsibility. Harrison, however, had been born shortly after the war, and the age gap had made them almost strangers despite their familial connection. They hadn’t really had the chance to get to know one another until Harrison had moved to the States after meeting Amanda, his new wife.

Harrison took the bag of Christmas presents from her. “No luggage?”

“I can’t stay long. I’m hoping to relieve my partner so he can spend some time with his own family. Where is everyone?” Though the Carter family was small, Amanda’s was large, and she enjoyed getting everyone together for festivities such as this.

“Out back. After opening all their presents and being refused batteries for their Gameboys, the kids decided to take out their frustrations on each other. In the backyard with snowballs, thank God. But come in. If you’re not here for long, you might as well get some food.” He led her toward the kitchen, and she followed at a sedate pace. The air was calm and quiet, the faint sounds of conversation and music emanating from the far end of the hall. It was the complete opposite from the SHIELD hallway she’d hurried through three hours before. And then with one glance out of one of the windows, Harrison took off to the door, muttering under his breath. Peggy looked out to see him chasing two teenage boys who had been dismantling a decorative wheelbarrow for snowball munitions. She smiled to herself as the three determined that the only way to show their displeasure with each other was to attack each other with snowballs.

She continued on her way, once again carrying the bag of presents Harrison had dropped before chasing after the boys. The Virginia estate was large, too large for her tastes, and decorated sumptuously. Most of the portraits and furnishings looked as if they’d been in the family for some time. Her grandparents, she remembered, had been wealthy, and quite upset that Peggy’s parents had run away together. Though she had never known them during her own life, it seemed that the family had patched things up between them while Peggy had been away. It was an odd feeling, she thought, to not feel like family in her own family home.

The kitchen was noisy with the sound of children and women chattering, and she stopped in the doorway. It made quite a lovely scene. Everyone seemed to be in the Christmas spirit; none of them bothered by the trouble in South America that no one but SHIELD and the CIA seemed to be paying attention to, nor the trouble brewing in the Middle East. And then what about the UK returning Hong Kong to China? What impact would that have? Everything seemed civil, but there would always be third parties interested in using such events to destabilize the governments. It wouldn’t happen immediately, but in just six years or so...

A faint sniffle called her attention back to the present. She turned to look at a small blonde girl sitting on a small bench pushed against the wall. The girl’s curls had been pulled back with a bow, and she wore a dark red jumper over a holly-patterned shirt. Her neat black shoes were scuffed, and her green stockings were torn and bunched at her ankles. She held a pristine-looking doll in her hands.

Peggy lowered herself to meet the girl’s eyes. Sharon, she remembered. Three years old. Almost four. Dear lord. Or was it nearly five now? “Hello, Sharon. You probably don’t remember me, but I’m your Aunt Peggy.”

The little girl wiped her eyes and stuck her jaw out as if challenging Peggy to say anything about her red eyes. 

The last time she’d seen Sharon, the girl had barely been able to crawl. She wondered if this was what it was like for Howard, finally getting time off work and seeing years had passed. “I see you have a doll.”

Sharon looked down at the doll in her hand and gave it a squeeze. “I don’t want it.” A thought occurred to her, and she held it out to Peggy. “You can have it.”

Peggy held up a hand. “I have so many dolls already, but thank you.” She half-turned to the bag of presents behind her. “I was actually hoping to give you some things myself.”

The effect was immediate; Sharon sat up straight and beamed, almost bouncing in her seat with an enthusiasm that made Peggy grin. And then Sharon sagged. “It’s not _dolls_ , is it?”

“No, not dolls. I promise. Do you like Nerf? I saw some of those new Nerf guns in the store and thought you might like to play with them.”

“Nerf _guns_?” Sharon asked, transfixed. For just a moment, she looked dubious. “Mommy and Daddy say I shouldn’t play with guns.”

“Not real guns, certainly. At least not until you’re older. But these ought to be fine so long as you don’t swallow anything. Promise me you won’t swallow anything?”

Sharon made a face. “I’m not stupid.”

“I’ll take that as a promise, then.” Peggy straightened. “How about we open these in the other room so we don’t bother anyone?”

Sharon nodded and left her doll on the chair before bouncing after Peggy into the living room. They had barely cross the threshold before she asked, “Can we open them now?”

“Hold on a moment. We have to get them out of the bag first. I brought gifts for your parents, too.” Peggy opened the bag only to find Sharon helping her with more haste than consideration.

“What if they weren’t good this year?” Sharon asked. “Can I get their presents?”

Peggy grinned. “No. But that was an admirable try. Particularly for someone so young.”

“I’m four!” Sharon paused and watched Peggy closely for several seconds before she caved. “I will be soon!”

Peggy pulled out one of the gifts for the girl. “Good. That’s just old enough for this, then.” The package disappeared from her hands, and the wrapping was soon thrown into the air with a maniacal giggle.

“Wooooooooooooowwwwwww,” Sharon exclaimed, holding the box at arm’s length. Her eyes were bright as they ran over the gun and the yellow Nerf balls.

“Why don’t you open this one while I take that one out of the box,” Peggy suggested, handing her another wrapped gift.

“I got _two?_ ” she squealed.

“Of course,” Peggy said. It occurred to her that she was enjoying this little trip far more than she’d thought she would. She didn’t get to make people smile like this at work. “What fun is it playing on your own?”

Sharon’s shoulders fell. “No one’s gonna want to play with me.”

“Whyever not?” Peggy glanced at her niece as she cut the package open with a pocketknife.

The girl looked crestfallen again. “‘Cause I’m little and I’m a girl. And I’m not supposed to get my clothes dirty.”

Peggy held up her pocketknife. “This is little, too. And I used to be a girl. As for getting your clothes dirty, you’ll have to wash them anyway, won’t you? And the more you practice, the better you get at fighting and not damaging your clothes.”

Sharon stared at her, open-mouthed. Such thoughts had evidently never occurred to her.

Peggy looked over her shoulder to the kitchen. She supposed that Harrison and Amanda wouldn’t want her telling their daughter quite so much. She turned back to Sharon. “How are you at keeping secrets?”

“Real good,” Sharon replied, entirely earnest. 

Peggy couldn’t suppress her grin. “Then let’s not tell your parents I told you anything about knives and fighting, okay?”

Sharon nodded. Then she leaned to one side and played with her hands in a way Peggy quickly realized meant she was planning something. “And then you’ll play guns with me?”

“And then we’ll play guns. You have to unwrap the other one first. Do you want to do more than play guns? We can play spy.”

“Okay!” Sharon didn’t seem to understand what the word meant, but she also didn’t seem inclined to let that stop her.

For the next forty-five minutes, Peggy taught Sharon how to play spy. All the chairs and tables in the room were now hills and mountains and outposts. The goal was to get the enemy’s flag or information out without being killed, and ideally without being detected. By the time Amanda came to see what the noise was about, Peggy had been shot three times by soft foam balls and hadn’t been able to bring herself to shoot Sharon once.

“That looks like fun,” Amanda said carefully. She was quickly accosted by Sharon showing her the plastic gun. Amanda smiled politely and straightened Sharon’s hair. “Dinner will be ready soon, if you’d like to join us in the kitchen.”

Peggy matched Amanda’s polite smile with one of her own. “No, thank you. I should really get back to Washington, or my co-worker won’t be able to see his son for Christmas.”

“That’s awfully nice of you.” Amanda nodded to Sharon. “Why don’t you tell Aunt Peggy goodbye and then go get cleaned up for dinner?”

Neither of those options seemed to appeal to Sharon, but she ran over and hugged Peggy’s legs tightly. “Bye, Aunt Peggy. Thanks for my guns!”

Peggy smiled after her as she ran with both guns out of sight. It might have been childish, but she’d enjoyed herself far more with her niece than she’d expected to enjoy the entire day. She looked to her sister-in-law, and, even though she felt as if the two of them were strangers, smiled warmly. “You know, I know you and Harrison often want time to yourselves. I’d be happy to babysit.” 

Amanda didn’t answer right away, and Peggy pressed on. “Sharon’s a wonderful girl, and I’d love to see more of her. You two are still young enough to socialize and go out to the theatre and go dancing.” Amanda still wavered, but Peggy had been reading people long enough now that she knew she just had to find the right hook. And she suspected she knew just the thing for wealthy, sociable parents with a young child. “Of course, since I live in Washington, she might have to spend the night with me from time to time, but it would be no trouble.”

Amanda slowly started to smile. “I’ll have Harrison call you. We’d love a night to ourselves every once in a while.”

Peggy nodded. “It would be my pleasure.”


End file.
